Grant High School unveils new turf field, track after 12 years of work

Lloyd and Judy Lindley began work to bring a turf field to Grant High School when their son was in fifth grade. He’s 25 and a college graduate now. Twelve years after the couple began their crusade, city and Nike leaders unveiled the new field and track Friday.

In the old days, the days when the Lindleys first hatched their plan, Grant Generals games often rained out. At the time, Jesuit High School was leading the charge to convert high school fields from grass to turf. As Grant’s project timeline stretched into a decade, the Generals have rented out Jeld-Wen Field for some home games.

The project looked hopeless even last year, said City Commissioner Nick Fish.

“Not every path is straight,” he said. “Not everything we do is easy.”

But the community and big names came together to raise the nearly $2 million needed for the project. Detroit Lions player Ndamukong Suh, a former Grant High School football star, donated $250,000 toward the effort. Nike, which has donated to help rebuild five PPS fields, gave $350,000. Portland Public Schools contributed over $650,000 to the new track. The Friends of Grant raised nearly $317,000, PPS and the Great Fields project gave nearly $392,000, Portland Parks & Recreation donated $400,000 from its System Developer Charges paid by developers, and $52,000 from sports user fees.

The crowd still hoped for future improvements. Stadium lights and an electronic scoreboard were scrapped because of neighbor concern.

For the day -- as rap music blared and teenagers bounced on the sidelines -- only one thing mattered. The neighborhood has about 4,000 youth athletes. The sky hinted at rain, but the football team was lining up to play on its own field.

“The kids who play here are going to know their community invested in their future,” said City Commissioner Amanda Fritz.

As a Nike executive handed out footballs to Fritz and Superintendent Carole Smith, two young boys played a game of catch on the new field. Timon Davis, a fifth grader at King School, tossed the ball to Marcus Harris, a seventh grader at King.

When Davis dashed to tackle Harris, he was already dreaming of the day he’d play there for real.